In the field of research, we continue to host regional roundtables that will culminate with a national summit that bring together scholars from law and other disciplines with policymakers, attorneys from legal advocacy groups, representatives of community organizations, media experts, and foundation officials. The roundtables will enable different stakeholders to collaborate in imagining the future by using a method that is forward-looking and does not privilege a particular discipline or occupation.

In particular, after briefly reviewing the history of the Latino population in the region, its current statistical profile, and the local law and policy landscape, we will ask the invited participants to build scenarios for the future. These scenarios are designed to address four key themes: immigration, education, economic opportunity, and political participation. One scenario will explore how law and policy can create a vicious cycle by entrenching inequality and blocking mobility. The other will consider how reform can produce a virtuous circle by promoting full inclusion and opportunity for this emerging population. The results of each regional roundtable will lay the foundation for the national summit, which will permit participants to reflect on common objectives as well as regional differences. We anticipate that these events will result in short, accessible papers that can be published on our website and collected in a book. We also will seek to use social media to reach the younger generation of Latinos who will become future leaders.

The Future of Latinos’ research goals also include:

1. To compile a comprehensive and up-to-date list of scholarship being produced about Latinos across the United States and Puerto Rico; and
2. To create a network of faculty working on issues of importance to Latinos.

Our goals are to enhance and expand research initiatives addressing the future of Latinos in the United States by prioritizing key areas of concern for law and policy, identifying the currently available research in these areas, translating that research into a usable form for policymakers and change agents, and filling any significant gaps in the research that bear on law and policy concerns.

Please download, review, and share the annotated bibliography. It contains over 400 academic and news media sources. The sources have been organized into eight (8) major themes: immigration, political participation and civic engagement/activism, economic opportunity, families, education, health, criminalization of Latinos, and Latino news and media.